SoilMapp for iPad: soil information at your fingertips

Find out what’s beneath your feet with SoilMapp, an app for iPad. SoilMapp taps into the best available soil information from Australia’s national soil databases and is a joint project with the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

Find out what's beneath your feet with SoilMapp which taps into the best available soil information from Australia’s national soil databases. You can find out about the likely types of soil near you or you can look anywhere across the country.

Discover the soil’s secrets, how it holds water, its clay content, acidity and other attributes related to agricultural productivity and land management.

Australia's soils are one of the country's most valuable natural assets, critical to sustainable food production, biodiversity conservation, water quality and human health.

Having access to the best available soil and land information assists improved land management decisions, sustaining Australia’s soils into the future.

get soil information to put into the farm computer model Agricultural Production Systems SIMulator (APSIM), a model that can help with management decisions on crops and project likely crop yields

access the app anywhere there is wireless or internet connection to your iPad.

What data can I access with SoilMapp?

SoilMapp for iPad provides direct access to best national soil data and information from the Australian Soil Resource Information System (ASRIS) and ApSoil, the database behind the agricultural computer model: APSIM.

Who was SoilMapp designed for?

SoilMapp is designed to make soil information more accessible to help Australian farmers, consultants, planners, natural resource managers, researchers and people interested in soil.

How can I get SoilMapp?

CSIRO’s SoilMapp is available from the App Store. Click the Download on the App Store button at the top of the page or search ‘CSIRO’ or ‘SoilMapp' on the App Store.

What if I run into problems?

Help information is available within the app but also from the SoilMapp wiki.
You can also contact the SoilMapp team at: asris@csiro.au

I’m a soil expert and I want to help

CSIRO encourages soil experts to help improve SoilMapp. You can help by confirming that the selected soil (or close variant) occurs at the pinned location. The information will be returned to ASRIS and will assist with map validation.

Users of APSIM, the farm system computer model, such as farm advisers and crop modellers can access the most relevant data on soil water characteristics through SoilMapp. They can then modify it for their situation and upload it to their ApSoil data file for their later use in APSIM.

Contact asris@csiro.au if you would like more details on how you can assist SoilMapp.

Partners

SoilMapp was developed by researchers and information technology specialists from CSIRO working through the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program (ACLEP) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) project: Doing it better, doing it smarter-managing soil water in Australian agriculture.

ACLEP is a partnership between:

CSIRO

Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

state and territory agencies responsible for land resource assessment

Geoscience Australia

soil research and industry groups.

Conditions of use

While every care has been taken in compiling the app, no assurances are given that it is free from error or omission. Please refer to the full disclaimer before using the SoilMapp for iPad.

Apple, the Apple logo and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

Video of SoilMapp in action

[Music plays. Text appears: find out what's beneath your feet]

[Image changes to cross sectional view of soil and grass. Title appears: soilmapp for iPad®]

[Text appears: introducing the new iPad app from CSIRO]

[Image changes to screen of ipad with finger pointing to a map with coloured areas indicating different soil types and a bookmark box appears. User's finger clicks on the box]

[Text appears: with the best soil information available]

[Image changes to soil corer being removed from a hole in the ground by a gloved hand. Plants can be seen either side of the hole. The soil core is removed and picked up by a second person who is sitting on the ground.]

[Text appears: you can access soil information for any location in Australia]

[Image changes to screenshot of the app working on an iPad. A box called 'Select Data Source' appears with latitude and longitude coordinates can be seen and selections available to the user. These selections include: ASRIS Map Discovery; ASRIS Site; CSIRO Archive Site; ApSoil Discovery.]

[Image changes to screenshot with a map of Australia with many different coloured dots. These coloured dots indicate different soil data points. The screen is then zoomed in and a detailed map of New South Wales is shown and blue and green dots can be seen.]

[Text appears: view maps, soil profiles and graphs]

[Image changes to screenshot with map of Australia with many different coloured dots. A box with Australian Soil Classification is open with different soil names and colours. Another box opens and the mouse-over toggles the visibility settings for different data layers.]

[Text appears: get data for land management or recreational activities]

[Image changes to screenshot of the app working on an iPad. A box called 'Select Data Source' appears with latitude and longitude coordinates can be seen and selections available to the user. ASRIS Map Discovery is chosen.]

[Image changes to screenshot of the app working on an iPad. The ASRIS Map Discovery box is open and the soil type chosen is a Vertosol. There are four profile photos of vertosols as well as a small map of Australia indicating where vertosols (shrink and swell clay soils) are found around the country.]

[Image changes to screenshot of the app working on an iPad. The ApSoil Discovery box is open showing a map to the left and a table with numbers and a graph. The table and graph indicate water content at different depths for the soil chosen, in this case a sandy loam over clay.]

[Text appears: a century of data]

[Image changes to black and white footage of a woman sorting soil samples in a laboratory. On the right there is an image of a woman on a ladder in a modern soil archive.]

[Image changes to black and white footage of a farm field being ploughed. On the right the image is of a harvester machine running over a field of wheat.]

[Image changes to a man in the outdoors holding a mobile device.]

[Text appears: discover the soil's secrets]

[Image changes to the screenshot of the iPad with the text: soilmapp]

[Acknowledgements: Available on the App Store. (Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registrered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.) Additional logos appear: the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program, CSIRO, Grains Research & Development Corporation.]

Video produced for CSIRO by Leafcutter Creative Digital www.leafcutter.com.au